Likeness Of A Thought / Telescope Beijing & Pekin Fine Arts

Likeness of a Thought

Drawing Project by 8 Beijing artists

Telescope and Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing

Curated by James Elaine

A western academic definition of a drawing is ”unique work on paper,” but this definition alone overlooks other aspects or sources of what drawing really is and where it comes from. Work on paper is a physical description but drawing goes much deeper: into the thought processes and spirit in between a search for an idea and its realization. The verb ‘to draw’ means to pull something out of the deep, like drawing water from a well. Drawing can happen when an artist is not really thinking about anything at all and is not even restricted to paper. It is a private conversation between the artist and him or herself. Drawings generally have less monetary value than other mediums, which takes a lot of pressure off of the artist’s process. In this unmapped territory artists are free to unconsciously express and to risk. The materials, thoughts, and emotions they use portray a different and perhaps a more vulnerable side of their creative being than that seen in their painting and sculptures.

Telescope, in collaboration with Pékin Fine Arts, has invited eight Beijing artists to propose individual drawing based installations considering this expanded understanding of drawing. The walls of both gallery spaces have been covered with unpainted ‘drywall,’ a common building material made of gypsum plaster, which is pressed between two thick sheets of paper. In its unfinished state, it suggests a drawing material itself having similar temporary qualities of a drawing and transforms the gallery space into a more of a working studio.